MercurySteam and Konami’s Dracula-centric sequel to Lords of Shadow is coming to consoles and Windows PC.

Footage from the sequel was showing during this morning’s Konami pre-E3 lifestream, during which the developers discussed how Lords of Shadow 2 was born out of overwhelming player interest in the first game’s epilogue. Said epilogue showed Gabriel Belmont—turned Dracula—perpetuating vampiric emo stereotypes in the modern day.

Producer Dave Cox revealed during that lifestream that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 will feature a freely-explorable world with no load times.

Lords of Shadow 2 launches on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 this winter.

Chris Holzworth has wanted to write about games all his life. He first cut his teeth writing for enthusiast sites such as RPGFan, and after writing for just about every other enthusiast website he could came across, wound up as EGM's east coast news correspondent (read: editorial intern) before relocating to LA to serve as news editor. You can follow his rants about storytelling on Twitter @manadrive.[Meet the rest of the crew]